Secret Wars and No Accountability: 5 Reasons Why 2013 Is Already Year of the Drone

The slight decrease in drone strikes in 2012 was nothing but ďa fluke,Ē as Antiwar.comís Jason Ditz writes. This year has already seen an escalation in the amount of drone attacks carried out in Pakistan and Yemen.

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2. United Nations Inquiry

As the escalation in Obama administration-ordered drone strikes continued to make waves, the United Nations announced an inquiry into whether the targeted killings program is lawful. On January 25, the UNís special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism said he would begin to investigate targeted killings by drones in Yemen, occupied Palestine, Pakistan and Somalia.

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3. Codifying Drones and Targeted Killings

In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, the Obama administration accelerated its efforts to codify the targeted killings by drone program. And while Obama won the election, his administration has forged ahead with making the perpetual drone war permanent--and institutionalized.

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4. Exposure of Memo on Assassinations of Americans

The scoop by NBC News investigative journalist Michael Isikoff that revealed the legal reasoning behind why the Obama administration thinks it has the right to kill American citizens has directed more attention toward U.S. drone strikes.